Sennheiser 2012 Annual Report Download - page 24

46
BROADCASTING
PAINFUL PROGRAM
110decibels
is the vol-
ume re-
quired
to recreate the atmosphere in a
concert hall for television viewers
when listening to a music program.
Yet Peter Flückiger must chuckle at
his own tongue-in-cheek recom-
mendation, as these noise levels
reach the output equivalent of a
jackhammer. At this rate, it
wouldn’t take long to reach the
threshold of acute discomfort.
(up to 2,000 Hz) to the highest, most
brilliant tones at 2,800 Hz.
If the 10 audio technicians
from tpc had made a mistake, even a
singer’s most beautiful overtones
would have gotten lost. After all, the
“The Voice of Switzerland” transmits
live. Explaining the tremendous re-
sponsibility that rests on the shoul-
ders of his colleagues, Flückiger says,
“Viewers at home hear everything in-
stantaneously.” Both the 5.1 and stereo signals were mixed
on site at the Bodensee Arena before being transmitted.
“Sadly, it’s not possible to convey the power felt in the arena
on television … no matter how good the microphones are,”
says the audio expert regretfully. As he says with a wink,
“You would probably have to
listen to the broadcast at 110
decibels in your living room.”
It took Flückiger’s au-
dio team seven days to trans-
form the Kreuzlingen hockey arena into one huge, per-
fectly tuned acoustic TV studio – and a decade for
Sennheiser engineers to achieve the Digital 9000’s high
standards. “We had to push the limits of the physically
possible to develop a wireless microphone system with
digital transmission and truly outstanding audio perfor-
mance. And, at these physical limits, the technical com-
plexity explodes,” says Gerrit Buhe, Head of Development
Electronics & Signal Processing at Sennheiser, as he de-
scribes the long road to the finished product.
With painstaking detective work, a tremendous
attention to detail and working step by step, the sound
engineers at Sennheiser were able to realize an even high-
er data rate, which resulted in the high-definition mode
used during the Swiss talent competition. Unlike other
wireless microphones, the Digital 9000 doesn’t compress
sound. Sennheiser is the
only manufacturer that has
been able to bring this type
of technology to production.
“There’s no such thing as a
perfect digital wireless mi-
crophone – but we’re pretty
close,” says Buhe.
TV visionary Peter
Flückiger already has an eye
on the future. Should the 4K
Ultra HDTV, which has four
times as much full HD image
resolution as HDTV, eventu-
ally push its way onto the
market, Flückiger also wants
to achieve a better sound.
Not by using more channels,
but through better quality
and a more sophisticated
spatial representation: “We
haven’t reached our limits.”
An attitude that is music to
the ears of engineers at
Sennheiser.
c1. More than 160 channels in the control
room. Together, they make up the sound of
the Digital 9000. f2. Swiss audio specialist
Peter Flückiger is thrilled by the sound of the
Sennheiser microphones.
j SKM 9000
The first digital wireless microphone comparable to
analog devices, it provides artifact-free, uncom-
pressed digital sound.
Sennheiser SKM 9000 A5-A8
World-class digital transmitter
Frequency response 18–20,000 Hz
Bandwidth 88 MHz
Operating time 5.5 hours (with BA 60
battery pack)
Weight 350 g
8,000 Hz